I did something interesting the other day. I went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I was only planning to go snorkelling at first as I've never dived before, but they did a half hour thing for about 20 quid so I didn't want to miss the oppurtunity. I've had a few interesting experiences since I've been in this country (such as hanging upside down by my ankles far above the rainforest), but diving beat them all. First you put all the stuff on and think 'I look like an idiot'. You then think 'I can't move with all these weights and a tank on my back'. That didn't last too long though as 10 seconds later the dive bloke grabbed hold of the strap on my shoulder and dragged me headfirst into the water. It was then that I started having 'wow' moments. The first was 'wow I can beathe underwater'. It's a really weird sensation, and a bit addictive. As soon as I got over the initial weirdness I looked around and thought 'wow, there's crap loads of fish everywhere!'. I know you would expect that on the reef, but it's still surprising when you see hundreds of beatiful, brightly coloured fish swimming past your face. And most of them are pretty big. The other 'wow' moments are when you actually see the coral reef and all the stuff growing on it. The last big surprise was seing how alive some of the stuff is living on the seabed. You know that stuff lives in shells and moves, but because it's so small and slow you never really think too much about it. When you touch the inside of a giant clam and it closes in on your hand, it's a bit freaky. To balance out our sense of calmness and 'being at one with nature', they decided to take us 'boomnetting' on the way back. In case you're not familiar it basically involves attactching a big rope net to the back of the boat, everyone hanging on for dear life, and the boat speeding along the ocean. This sounds like a bit of harmless fun but as the boat churns water out of the back, your get the equivalent of a constant bucket of salt water in your face. You can't lift your head above it becuase you're being dragged along face down with your arms at full stretch. As the boat got faster, people started dropping off and since the men were at the back there were random people flying off over our heads. After about 5 minutes of trying not to drown, and about 2 pints of saltwater in my stomach, I decided I wasn't haven't too much fun anymore and let go. It was there that I had another interesting experience. Bobbing about by yourself in the ocean, without a lifejacket, watching the boat you were on speed off into the distance. A few words came into my head, but I'll leave that to your imagination. When I turned around there was a rescue boat behind me coming my way, packed with people. So I didn't die, which was good. All in all an interesting day.
Since leaving Cairns I travelled to Mission Beach, then to Townsville, and I'm now in lovely Airlie Beach. There's only one small main road here and you can walk down it in 4 or 5 minutes, but the whole place is geared for backpackers and there's hostels, restaurants, pubs and clubs everywhere. My next adventure starts tomorrow when I board a luxury catamaran for three days to go sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. I'll let you know how I get on.
I'd better go as it's getting late, as is evident by my pretty incoherent attempt at writing. I should probably stop before I start rambling on about something else!
No comments:
Post a Comment